Circular-feed attachment



Jul 29-, 1924.

T. B. HUESTIS CIRCULAR FEED ATTACHMENT Filed Feb. 26. 192] Patented July 29, 1924.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS B. HUES'IIS, F BRISTOL, RHODE ISLAND, ASSIGNOR T0 NATIONAL INDIA RUBBER COMPANY, A CORPORATION OF RHODE ISLAND.

CIRCULAR-FEED ATTACHMENT.

Application filed February 26, 1921.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS B. HUESTIS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bristol, in the-county of Bristol and State of Rhode Island, have invented a certain .new and useful Circular-Feed Attachment, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description. I This invention relates to a circular feed attachment, more particularly to an attach- ,ment whereby circular or other shaped articles may be automatically fed and stitched with a circular seam on an ordinary sewing machine.

In the manufacture of shoes made of canvas or'other fabric, particularly those intended for sporting use, or tor other purposes where they are subjected to hard usage, it is customary to reinforce the ankle portions of the shoe uppers by securing to them small circular pieces of material, usually of leather, which are known in the trade as ankle patches. Prior to my invention these patches were sewed-on the shoe uppers on an ordinary sewing machine, the operator guiding the shoe upper and superposed patch manually, to form a circular seam. around the patch adjacent its periphery. As the operator guides the work by the eye, 30 using the edge of the patch as a gauge, it is evident that considerable skill is required and both hands must be used in order to form a seamwhich is uniformly spaced inwardly from the edge of the'patch, and in the case of an inexperienced or careless operator the seam is more or less irregular, thereby detracting from the appearance of the finished shoe. In either case the speed of operation is con siderably reduced. In addition, the patch is comparatively small, and in order to uide it during the stitching operation the fingers of the operator are necessarily kept quite close to the stitch-forming mechanism, involving considerable riskof injury. An object of my invention is to provide an improved means for feeding work, to be operated upon, in a circular path past. the point of operation.

Another object is to provide a circular feed attachment for sewing machines.

Still another object is to provide an attachment forconverting the usual strai ht line feed of a sewing machine into a circu ar feed.

Serial No. 447,944.

A further object is to provide an improved means for automatically sewing a circular seam.

.A still further object is to provide a gauge 'for properly locating the work.

' vention attached;

Fig. 2 isa part elevation and part vertical section of Fig. 1;

Fig. ,3 is an elevation showing the presser foot of the machine raised and with the upper member of the work clamp partly thrown back;

Fig. 4 is a plan of Fig. 3 with the presser bar shown in section.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral 1 represents the work bed of a sewing machine, above which is'disposed a needle bar 2 carrying needles 3, and a presser bar 4 having a presser foot 5, below which latter a is disposed .thefeed dog 6, all of said parts being of any usualor desired construction. A collar or sleeve 7 is rigidly secured to the presser bar above the presser foot and is provided with an upwardly projecting extension 8 throu h which is secured 'a stop screw 9/ Loose y mounted on the presser bar is a second sleeve 10 having a horizontal slot 11 therein,-the lower wall of which is formed with a recess 12, and by reference to Fig. 3 it will be seen that the stop screw 9 projects into the slot 11 and limits the rotary movement of sleeve 10 on the presser bar. A coil spring 13 is dis osed on the presser bar between'the sleeves and 10, and' tends to urge the sleeve 10 in an upward direction. Hence, when the sleeve is so disposed that the recess 12 is in line with the stop screw 9, the spring urges the sleeve 10' upwardly to yieldingly hold it in position. An arm 14 extends outwardly from the sleeve 10 and is provided at its free end with a downwardl projecting bearing sleeve 15, the lower en of which carries a gauge and guard 16, which latter is cut away at one side, as shown at 17. The shank 18 of one member 19 of a work clam is rotatably and slidably mounted in the cove 15 with its upper end projecting slightly above the arm 14. The shank 18 and clamp member 19 are yieldingly pressed downwardly bymeans of a spring 20 secured to the arm 14 and bearing at one end'against the upper end of the shank 18. In order to limit the downward movement of the shank 18 it is provided with a circular groove 21 adjacent its upper end, in which groove is disposed a U-shaped retaining member 22 the ends of which bear against the top of. arm 14, A-second work 0 amping memben 23 is rotatabl mounted at 24 on a plate 25 secured in t e work bed of the-machine, this second work clamping member being disposed laterally of the feed mechanism of the machine, that is, transversel of the path of movement of the feed 0g, as shown in Fig. 4. The clamping member 23 is provided with a series of upwardly projecting teeth 26 adjacent its periphery, and a pin 27 is disposed centrally of the member 23 and adapted to enter a central recess28 in the lower face of the upper work clamping member 19 when the latter is in operative position.

In operation the presser foot of the machine is raised in the usual manner. Since the upper work clamping member and guard 16 are carried on the presserbar, they will also be raised to the same height as the presser foot. The operator then disposes a shoe upper 29 on the clamping member at the point where it is desired to attach the ankle patch 30 and disposes the ankle patch on top of the upper, using the guard 16 as a gauge to properly center it. The guard 16 is preferably made with a base of the same diameter as the patch to be used, and by moving the patch until it is. in alignment Withthe guard base the guard is thus utilized for centering the patch and properly disposing its edge portion in relation to the eedles. The presser. foot is then lowered togdther with the upper clamping .member and guard, thereby clamping the work in adjusted position. The pin 27 passes through the work and enters recess 28 to assist the clamping members in holding the work properly centered. It is obvious that the base of the guard 16 need not be necessarily of the same diameter as the patch or other article to be operated upon. It will be seen that the work will be rotatably hel by the clamping members at one side of the feed mechanism, which latter is disposed radially of the pivot point 24 and operates in a direction perpendicular to the radius on which it is disposed. Hence, as the stitching proceeds the feed mechanism causes the work 'to be rotated around the pivot point 24 as a center until the seam is completed. The upper work clamping member 19 and guard 16 are normally yieldably held directly over the lower work clamping member by the stop screw 9, recess 12, and spring 13, and if for any reason it is desired to obtain access to the work bed of the machine, as, for instance, when chan ing bobbins, the upper work clamping sity for manual guidance by the operator;

the stitching can be accomplished much more rapidly and accurately, and as there is no necessity for the use of the operators fingers in guiding the work during the operation, all risk to the operator is obviated. The guard 16 not only covers the moving parts of the work clamp during the sewing operation, but also aids in preventing any curling up or misplacement of the shoe upper while being stitched, and, as before stated,'forms a gauge to aid in theproper placing of the ankle patch or other article to be sewed.

While a specific embodiment of the invention has been shown and described, it is obvious that numerous changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is not limited in its use to the particular operation shown, and may be applied to other machines than sewing machines.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to protect by Let? ters Patent is:

1. In a sewing machine, stitch forming mechanism, straight line work feeding mechanism including a presser bar, a rotatable work gripping member movably carried by the presser bar and having a central recess on its under side, a circular rotatable work gripping member coacting therewith and having a roughened portion adjacent its periphery, and a pin disposed centrally of said second member and adapted to enter said recess.

2. In a sewing machine, stitch forming mechanism, straight line feed mechanism inculding a presser bar, a presser foot and a feed dog, a' sleeve rotatable on said presser bar, a slot in said sleeve and having a recess in its wall, a stop carried by the presser bar and disposed in said slot, yieldable means tending to urge said recess into engagement with said stop. a rotatable work gripping member carried by said sleeve, and a coacting rotatable Work gripping member disposed in transverse alignment with the feed dog. a

Signed at Bristol, Rhode Island, this 17th day of February. 1921.

THOMAS B. HUESTIS. 

